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Friday, March 30, 2012

Applications are invited for New Zealand's premier children's writing fellowship.
The University of Otago is the only tertiary institute in New Zealand which offers a residency for a children's writer. Begun by the Dunedin College of Education in 1992, it allows writers to work full time in a compatible environment among colleagues who are concerned with the teaching of reading and literature to children. Remuneration of $28,000 is jointly funded by the University and Creative New Zealand.

The residency is open to established children's writers who are normally resident in New Zealand. The annual residency is for a six month period between February and August and includes an office within the College.

The residency is offered in association with the Robert Lord Trust which provides rent-free accommodation to writers in the historic Titan Street cottage bequeathed by the late playwright Robert Lord.

Applications are invited for New Zealand's premier writing fellowship.

The Robert Burns Fellowship is New Zealand's premier literary residency. It was established in 1958 by a group of anonymous Dunedin citizens to commemorate the bicentenary of the birth of Robert Burns, and to perpetuate the community's appreciation of the part played by the related Dunedin family of Dr Thomas Burns in the early settlement of Otago. The Fellowship aims to encourage and promote imaginative New Zealand literature and to associate writers with the University.

The annual, 12-month Fellowship provides an office in the English Department and not less than the minimum salary of a full-time university lecturer. It is open to writers of poetry, drama, fiction, biography, autobiography, essays or literary criticism who are normally resident in New Zealand, and who, in the opinion of the Selection Committee, have established by their published work, or otherwise, that their writing would benefit from their holding the Fellowship.

On March 29, 1912, a gallant little party of Englishmen expired after their failed dash to be first to reach the South Pole. The dramatic story led to many books, a great film, a haunting symphonic poem -- but some of the less dramatic, but very human details of the organization of the expedition have not been revealed until now.

For instance, who knows that Scott's beautiful wife, Kathleen (pictured on the left), was an extremely assertive woman? Or that Hilda, New Zealander wife of Edward Evans, second-in-command (to the far right), was spirited, too . . . and that the two women did not get along?

This -- along with much, much more about the events surrounded the epic attempt on the South Pole -- are revealed in a painstakingly researched account published in the New Zealand Ship and Marine Society Marine News, and written by Michael Pryce. On this historic anniversary we can read it online.

And, here, to titillate your interest, is the story that caught my amused eyes:

A clash of personalities between Kathleen Scott and Lt. Evans’ wife Hilda was evident just before the departure of their husbands from New Zealand. Lt. Evans came to Scott with details of trouble and how tempers had flared between the wives.

Capt. L.E. ‘Titus’ Oates reported that “Mrs. Scott and Mrs. Evans had a magnificent battle; they tell me it was a draw after fifteen rounds. Mrs. Wilson flung herself into the fight after the tenth round and there was more blood and hair flying about the hotel than you see in a Chicago slaughter-house in a month, the husbands got a bit of the backwash and there is a certain amount of coolness which I hope they won’t bring into the hut with them, however it won’t hurt me even if they do”.

It is interesting to speculate on the effect this disharmony amongst the wives had on the expedition as a whole, especially once the civilising effects of New Zealand had been replaced by the harsh reality of the southern continent.

Once at sea all was well, but Kathleen decided that if her husband ever mounted another expedition, the selection of men and their wives deserved more consideration. “If ever Con has another expedition, the wives must be chosen more carefully than the men – better still, have none”.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

A housewifely urge to turn out an old cardboard box revealed a treasure beyond imagining in Palmerston North, New Zealand – a genuine 1616 edition of the King James Bible. St Peter's Anglican Church staff told local reporter Lee Matthews they plan to have it restored, and displayed.

Quite how a 1616 edition of the King James Bible ever got put into a cupboard in Palmerston North's St Peter's Church is a mystery that may never be solved.

Even its discovery was an accident. Vicar Anne Chrisp said the church was looking for older bibles to help the City Library with a display to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the first printing of King James Bible last year.

Somebody recollected a lot of old bibles in a box in a cupboard and found something extra. At the bottom was a big brown paper parcel that nobody knew anything about.

Unwrapped, it proved to be a folio-sized bible, covered with battered black leather, sagging somewhat through the spine. Opened, the frontispiece proclaimed it to be: "Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the Kings. most excellent maiesty. 1616".

Great excitement, but the first task was to prove whether the book was genuine. Parish records were scoured to see where it might have come from, and parishioner the late Keith Hopper started researching old bibles.

The only clue to possible previous ownership was a signature on one of the pages; J Pattison. Mr Hopper researched the family and discovered Pattisons, also spelt Pattinson, had arrived in Ashhurst early in settlement of Manawatu. It was possible the Bible might have been given to the church by the family, but the parish records didn't yield any information about its gifting.

"There's no family descent written in the front of it. Sometimes families did that," Rev Chrisp says.

Mr Hopper took careful photographs of the book, and sent them to Anthony Tedeschi, Dunedin Library's rare books expert. Mr Tedeschi moved to New Zealand from the United States in 2007, and his research expertise includes the history of the English Bible and provenance research.

Mr Tedeschi said he was initially skeptical about St Peter's Bible. Old bibles are often faked.

"My first thought was that it would be the standard 19th-century edition, bound in black morocco. Then I thought it might be a facsimile of something older."

One test of a book's provenance is to check the errors it contains. Letters mistakenly skipped from certain words, incorrect punctuation, the printing fonts used can be compared with provenanced books.

"So I did that, cross-checked these things against the other known editions, and they matched up. It's authentic," Mr Tedeshi said. "I was pretty excited!"

Only 30 copies of bibles from this 1616 first edition print run are known to exist, mostly held in collections in Britain and the United States. St Peters' copy makes 31, and the only one that Mr Tedeshi knows about in Australasia.

There are two earlier editions of the King James Bible, printed in 1611 and 1613 respectively. They were big books, weighing about 10kg, designed to be read while standing at a pulpit. The 1616 edition was a smaller version – 313mm by 225mm, and 94mm deep. They were produced for smaller, poorer churches whose congregations couldn't afford the big bibles, but still big books by today's paperback standards.

"Not terribly comfortable to curl up with to read," Mr Tedeshi says. "They'd have been read with the book resting on a flat surface."

Mr Tedeschi says nobody knows the number of books in the 1616 first edition print run.

Robert Barker was the royal printer for King James, and the bibles were produced using individually cast lead letters, out of which compositors made words, lines, paragraphs and columns that were screwed into a forme.

1616 Bible not opened in decades

St Peter's 1616 King James Bible had an exciting secret hidden under its battered old leather covers – a large fragment of the original 1616 calfskin binding.

Rare material conservator Steve Williams, of Triptych Conservation, said the book was recovered with leather early in the 20th century, and whoever had done the work had gone straight over the top of the remains of the original cover.

"Rather unusual. Today we'd conserve that original, and make it part of the new binding. That's what I'll do."

It was a difference in style. Late 19th- and early 20th-century book restoration was done with an eye to keeping the book used and useful. Today, conservation was the key, using – wherever possible – the same types of leathers, glues, and materials as would have been originally put into the book.

Mr Williams said the Bible looked as though it hadn't been used for decades. Page wear and damage had been sustained decades and centuries ago. The text block was in quite good condition, but some of the front pages and sections had come loose from its new binding.

He stripped the book back to its underwear, discarding the more modern add ons, and restitched the sections and pages together. Then he built a new cover, using the page-sized original browny-black calfskin, and modern leather made under the same 17th century processes.

"You do have to be careful with pastes and glues. They used natural animal products, cow hooves and things, like a form of gelatine. You can reverse those glues fairly easily, you apply a type of poultice to glued area, and over time it loosens and you can carefully scrape it all away."

Modern PVA and petrochemical glues were a nightmare when found on old books, because they couldn't be reversed. The book was stuck with them forever, and they ruined the antiquity value.Mr Williams has restored books and conserved other rare objects for 38 years. He trained in Britain, starting in a county archives office.

He came to New Zealand 10 years ago, and does contract work for people who needed proper archival conservation of any items – conserving and preserving originals in ways that does not compromise their future quality.

The mini-series has been generating huge interest following the success of Fellowes' "Downton Abbey" on both sides of the Atlantic.

And it attracted a strong audience, beating the final episode of 1930s drama "Upstairs Downstairs" on BBC One, which aired at the same time.

However, Times critic Andrew Billen said that he struggled with the speed of the opening episode.

"The real design fault is Fellowes: by introducing disaster every 30 minutes into each of Titanic's four episodes, even his economy of quill struggles to involve us in his characters, let alone to persuade us to like them.

Hachette UK announces it has acquired worldwide rights in the Enid Blyton estate

The mega-publisher has taken over the entire Enid Blyton publishing portfolio (excluding Noddy) from Chorion, for the Hodder Children's imprint of its Hachette Children's Books business.

This includes 800 titles translated into 40 languages. To date over 500 million copies of Enid Blyton books have been sold, outselling any other children's author. Blyton's sales continue to flourish and she remains one of the top 10 most borrowed authors. Many films and TV series have been made and continue to be produced. Hachette has acquired all these and other rights in addition to publishing rights.

The hallmark elements that give Enid Blyton's work enduring appeal to children the world over are friendship, teamwork, fantasy and fun. Her most famous brands include The Famous Five, Secret Seven, Naughtiest Girl, Adventure Series, Enchanted Wood, Faraway Tree, Twins at St Clare's, Malory Towers and Just George.

Marlene Johnson, Managing Director of Hachette Children's Books commented:
'I am absolutely delighted that we have acquired world rights to publish Enid Blyton. Hodder was her original publisher, so it is fitting that her whole portfolio has come home and will now be published and managed under one roof. We will be honouring existing contracts and will be in touch with licensees in due course.

'Children have been reading Enid Blyton for many, many years and the books are held in real affection by generations of families the world over.

'We have great plans for the future. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Famous Five and much-loved illustrators including Quentin Blake, Helen Oxenbury and Emma Chichester Clark have reinterpreted the classic characters for a new generation.'

Monday, March 26, 2012

NZ Authors' Auckland Branch is pleased to announce that celebrated fiction writer JUDITH WHITE has agreed to act as the main judge for The Christine Cole Catley Short Story Competition.

Judith White has won numerous awards for her short fiction, including the 1989 BNZ Katherine Mansfield Short Story Award, the Auckland Star Short Story Competition (twice) and in 1996 was the Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellow. A collection of her short fiction and her novel Across the Dreaming Night have both been shortlisted for what is now the NZ Post Book Awards.

The winner of the competition, which closes on March 31, will receive $500.00, presented at the National AGM in May 2012.
2nd and 3rd place getters and runners up will receive certificates.
The winning short story and selected other works will be published into a booklet.

The competition is to honour the memory of Dame Christine who died last year and was a stalwart of the NZSA.

Conditions of entry
The competition is only open to NZSA members. All entries must be original and not previously published or broadcast in or on any medium. Entries should contain 1500 words or fewer. The manuscript should be typewritten, on A4 sheets, space and a half, and with clear margins.

There is a $10.00 entry fee. More than one story may be submitted, but the entry fee applies to each story entered. A title page should contain the title of the story, the number of words it contains and the writer’s nom-de-plume.
In a brief covering note, provide your name and address, the title of your story and the nom-de-plume you have used on the manuscript.

Hard copies of the entries and the $10.00 entry fee per story should be posted to:
The Christine Cole Catley Short Story Competition, c/o The NZSA, PO Box 7701, Wellesley St, Auckland 1141. Enquiries to Thomas Lodge thlodge@yahoo.co.uk

Scientists are about to announce the end of a geological epoch, and the beginning of another.

Mankind has had such a huge effect on the planet and its geological story, that the Holocene era, covering the 11,500 years since the last ice age, should be declared at an end.

The new era will be called the Anthropocene, meaning "the age of man."

The changes are basic and beyond counting. Radioactive materials from nuclear testing are part of the planet, as as particles of plastic and glass. The atmosphere has been changed by carbon dioxide produced by man, as has the sea.

Scientists postulate that scholars of the distant future will find a distinct boundary, separating the two geological eras. The sudden disappearance of many fossils, as so many species have been forced into extinction by humans, could be their first clue.

The idea that humanity's abuse of the planet has precipitated this new geological era will be the centrepiece of the Planet Under Pressure conference, which will be held in London this week.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

"I have passed the day very pleasantly in looking at the shore and watching the little catamarans," wrote Mary Brewster on January 29, 1848.

Mary was the wife of Captain William Brewster of the whaleship Tiger, and the ship was laying at anchor in the roads of the Brazilian port of Pernambuco (now Recife). These "catamarans as they are called," she described, "appear like logs fastened together with a seat raised at one end or at each, where they set." Their speed amazed her--"These tiny things," she wrote, "are supplied with a large three-cornered sail and sail very fast."

This observation is intriguing, as the double-hulled canoe is characteristic of the Pacific, on the other side of the continent from Brazil. Navigators like the great Tahitian, Tupaia, who sailed with James Cook on the Endeavour, spanned the Pacific in their great voyaging catamarans hundreds of years before the arrival of any Europeans. As Cook wrote rather ruefully after talking with Tupaia, "their large Proes [pahi] sail much faster than the ship."

That the double hull should be a feature of South America seems to provide still more evidence that the early Polynesians visited the eastern shores of that continent (the sweet tuber, kumara, was perhaps either introduced to Peru by Polynesians, or taken away by Polynesians). However, I find that the origins of the catamaran belong to India, on the far side of the globe.

Indeed, the word "catamaran" is a combination of two Tamil words, "kattu" -- to tie -- and "maram," meaning wood, or tree. The double hull was invented by the Paravas, a fishing community on the southern coast of Tamil Nadu, in the Bay of Bengal. Recorded as far back as the 5th century, AD, catamaran fleets sped in campaigns against tribes in Burma, Cambodia, and Malaysia.

William Dampier, explorer and pirate, recorded seeing double-hulled boats in Tamil Nadu, in 1697. Less than a century later, in 1767, Captain Samuel Wallis, of the discovery ship Dolphin, described seeing great double-hulled canoes at Tahiti. "The Double Canoes are very Large and are lashed together about two three or four feet asunder forward abaft & a Midships," he wrote--

"they have two Masts which they Step between the two Canoes one forward & the other abaft, their Shrouds are fixed to the outer Gunwale of each Canoe, they have large sails & are very Stiff ― and go swift and live in a great Sea, they are about two feet & a half Broad within Board and the Plank of some of them at the Whole is above three inches, and at the gunwall about two, they are covered both forward and abaft for Eight or ten feet with Plank, & curved at each end so no water can come in but a Midships, they have likewais many of them large Square Rooms or Awnings fixed over both boats that will hold a Dozen People beside two or three on the Top, this Awning is fixed between the Two Masts."

So -- did the Polynesian voyagers adapt the Indian hull type sometime in the ancient past, perhaps even before the proto-Polynesians first launched themselves into the Pacific?

Not at all, according to the very informative story "Origin of the Catamaran" on a website promoting multi-hulled vessels. The Polynesian double canoe was developed independently. It was the first English visitors who noticed the similarity, and called the craft "catamarans."

And it was the Pacific double canoe -- not the Indian or South American versions -- that inspired the modern catamaran style.

(The image of Mary Brewster is held at Mystic Seaport Museum; the painting of the Tiger was made by Ron Druett. The Tahitian pahi is a painting by Hodges.)

Saturday, March 24, 2012

It was the Greek philospher, Aristotle, who first conceived the idea that a huge land mass, Terra Australis Incognita -- the unknown Great South Land -- must bulk somewhere below the Equator, to give symmetry to the globe, and counter-balance the great weight of Russia, Europe, and China in the north.

This mythical "balancing mass,' which was supposed to be temperate, rich in both produce and ores, and inhabited by mysterious people, lured hundreds of European mariners in the Pacific, until James Cook finally proved that this paradise did not exist -- and in the process of proving it, missed a golden opportunity to "discover" Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji, with the great Polynesian navigator and diplomat, Tupaia, by his side.

Now there is a book about those old, strange perceptions of Terra Australis Incognita.

Called European Perceptions of Terra Australis, it is a collection of essays edited by Anne M. Scott, Alfred Hiatt, Claire McIlroy and Christopher Wortham, and published by Ashgate.

The essays essentially present the intellectual background to European voyages of discovery, going from the sixteenth century to the eighteenth century (one essay does go back to Roman times), looking at the notion of a land mass in the southern seas as recorded in such things as European literature.

On an April night 100 years ago, a ship of the Cunard lines called the R.M.S.Carpathia moved up the Hudson River in a ferocious rain, sailing past the line’s home berth at Pier 54, instead going north to Pier 59, near 18th Street.

Today, the pier is home to a golf driving range, a digital studio and a microbrewery. In 1912, it was the pier for ships of the White Star line.

The Carpathia stopped at Pier 59 to drop off White Star property: lifeboats from the R.M.S.Titanic, which it had collected from the North Atlantic three days earlier, when the Carpathia rescued 705 passengers and crew members.The lifeboats were all that was left of the unsinkable Titanic.

Then the Carpathia turned back to its own pier, 54, just south of 14th Street.Thousands of people had gathered to watch it come in and find relatives, or in the case of newspaper reporters, to find stories.

So, what happened to those 705 souls brought to New York by the Carpathia?

Some of the women who had traveled in the lowly steerage quarters were given a refuge at the mission of Our Lady of the Rosary. An exhibit detailing their experiences can be seen at the church of the same name, 7 State Street, near Battery Park.

Friday, March 23, 2012

The Hunger Games, the Hollywood film in which teenagers fight to the death on live TV, opens this weekend amid high expectations that it will break box office records.

The theme is derivative of other films (the cult movie Bladerunner being one of them) as well as several books, such as Robert Sheckley's Prize of Peril. Stephen King's Running Man, about convicts being hunted to death for the delectation of TV audiences, was made into a movie with Swartzie in the starring role.
Let's face it, single combat has a long, long history. Back in the days of The Iliad, warriors fought individually. (Collins herself says she was inspired by the story of Theseus.) Knights rushed at each other on large horses in full armor, at great harm to themselves, but to the delight of a large audience that might include major nobility. Duelling was once considered honorable. Gladiators -- who definitely went in for duelling to the death in front of great crowds -- had ardent fans.

There are more modern examples, too, such as the Fighting Fantasy series and a Japanese novel called Battle Royale that has done very well indeed. Collins, however, has out-performed current rivals -- Hunger Games, the book, has sold 3 million copies in 26 different languages.

As GalleyCat remarks, the blockbuster movie will undoubtedly send readers scrambling for the sequel--a timely book that could help the younger generation think about these revolutionary times. The Hunger Games focuses on the personal struggle teenage girl named Katniss Everdeen. In Suzanne Collins' sequel, Catching Fire, that personal struggle expands in a country-wide revolution. Even though Catching Fire was first published in 2009, certain passages seem snatched from current headlines.

The third book in the immensely bestselling series, is called Mockingjay and was published in 2010.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Margaret Mahy Medal

On March 31, Storylines’ Margaret Mahy Day, bestselling children’s and YA writer Fleur Beale (pictured) will be presented with the Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal, which is given annually by the Storylines Children’s Literature Trust and is New Zealand’s top award for achievement in children’s literature. It’s another much-deserved accolade for one of this country’s most popular and distinguished writers for younger readers.

As the Storylines press release notes: “‘Fleur Beale’s books have won her a large following among young readers,’ says Storylines Trust chair, Dr Libby Limbrick. ‘Since her first book Slide the Corner in 1993 she has published a significant body of more than thirty works of fiction. Many have been shortlisted for awards, with her more recent books, such as the Esther Glenn winner Juno of Taris and 2011 New Zealand Post Senior Fiction winner Fierce September, taking top prizes.’”

Fleur's 30 books, many of which have been published in America and England, include the classic I Am Not Esther, winner of the Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Loved Book, and published under Random House’s Longacre imprint. It was reissued in March with a new jacket and has been continuously in print now for 14 years. Fleur’s new YA novel for Random House is to be published
in September.

Sir James McNeish, with his wife, Lady Helen, has established the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust/McNeish Fellowship, a travel fellowship for young New Zealand writers and journalists.

As the press release circulated by the New Zealand Society of Authors reads: “Sir James says the Fellowship has been established to give an established writer exposure to a culture and environment quite different to the one he or she knows. The scheme recognises the need for writers from a remote country like New Zealand to get away so their horizons can shift and expand and they, on returning, can look at their homeland with fresh eyes.
“James McNeish, a former Winston Churchill Fellow, was knighted for services to literature in 2011 and says he would never have become the writer he is without the injection of experience gained from working and living in foreign cultures.
“An initial donation of $50,000 will be made to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust by Sir James and Lady Helen McNeish, with provision for a further donation of $50,000 in their joint wills. The donations will follow the same investment strategy as the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust fund, with grants initially of $5000 to $7000 and up to a maximum of $10,000 being made off the interest.

Guidelines indicate a preference for applicants who choose to travel to an under-developed or Third World region or a society whose culture is not fundamentally Anglo-Saxon.
“Rachael Selby, Chair of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Board, says: ‘We are thrilled to be able to sponsor this joint Fellowship. We hope the innovation will lead to further interest in the Trust and the Fellowships that are offered. It opens the door to other individuals and organisations that may consider joining with the Trust to provide opportunities for New Zealanders to travel and learn from the experience.’
“The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, established in 1965, assists 15 to 20 New Zealanders each year to travel overseas to learn more about other people and cultures and to investigate topics that will help them to increase their contribution to the community and their trade, industry, profession, business or calling. Each Fellow produces a report to support wide public dissemination of their learning. It is expected that the first successful applicant will travel abroad in 2013.
“The New Zealand Winston Churchill Memorial Trust is administered by the Department of Internal Affairs. More information about the Trust is available at www.communitymatters.govt.nz”

James’s memoir, Touchstones, is to be published by Random House in July.

For once, the packages were not unsolicited manuscripts
Two shipments of marijuana destined for the New York City offices of a major book publisher were intercepted this last month by federal agents after postal workers detected a “suspicious odor” emanating from the Express Mail parcels, according to court records.

The packages, containing a total of more than 11 pounds of pot, were addressed to St. Martin's Press, in Manhattan.

The pot parcels, mailed from San Diego, never made it out of California, however. A post office employee contacted postal inspectors after alerting to the distinctive scent of the two packages.

According to mailing labels, the boxes were purportedly sent by “ABT Books,” a San Diego firm that listed a return address that investigators determined to be fictitious.

The name to which the packages were addressed -- "Karen Wright" -- is also fictitious. A spokeswoman for the company stated that no one by that name works for SMP.

Publisher to transform mobile app into e-book tale

Katie Morhen, 20 Mar 2012 12:03

In a revolutionary move forward in the digital world, a major publishing house is set to transpose the characters of a popular children’s smartphone application into an e-book, it has been reported.
Penguin’s children division Puffin will create new adventures based on Willow the whale, star of digital design studio Ustwo’s Whale Trail mobile game, TechCrunch.com reported.

This marks the first time a publishing deal has been broached with a brand that first kicked off as a mobile app, with the electronic picture book set to be released in October of this year, ahead of a follow up series for 2013 to include print books.

Co-founder of Ustwo, Mills, explained that the studio will maintain the rights to the game but the collaboration could lead Penguin to delve into the gaming application industry.

He told the publication: “Whale Trail was all about creating something that brings joy to users throughout the world.

“Penguin genuinely and passionately shares our enthusiasm for developing the brand further.”
Ustwo has a studio located in Shoreditch London, as well as having another base in Sweden.

Despite controversy and bad publicity, the Kindle "lending library" system is working, it seems.

According to the March report from the gurus at Amazon, KDP authors participating in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library have earned a total of $1.8 million to date from the KDP Select fund.

February, they say, was a great month for participating authors. With the $600,000 February fund, KDP Select-enrolled authors earned $2.01 per borrow. The KDP Select fund amount for March has also been set at $600,000.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Dr PAUL MOON is one of New Zealand’s most prolific historians, producing 19 books in 13 years.

He is also one of our most controversial, having had several public stoushes on subjects including versions of the Treaty of Waitangi, Maori cannibalism and Catholic Bishop Pompallier.
2011 saw the publication of his weighty tome New Zealand in the Twentieth Century: The Nation, The People. He discusses the work, and where to now for Paul Moon, with writer and historian Joan Druett.

One of New Zealand’s most popular writers, Joan Druett writes both history and historical novels.

Her lasting creation, Maori whaler Wiki Coffin, features in a series of mystery novels set along the whaling routes of the nineteenth century.

Joan’s most recent book is Tupaia: The Remarkable Story of Captain Cook’s Polynesian Navigator, an illustrated and lively look of this previously uncelebrated, historical figure who sailed from Tahiti on the Endeavour in 1769 as navigator and translator, sadly dying before he could return home.
In conversation with Dr Rodney Wilson.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

“I’m not a political person,” proclaimed Stephen Dau at the packed Public Library Association panel “Meet This Season’s Best in Debut Authors,” a new event initiated by Penguin library rep Alan Walker.

At first, it seemed like a surprising assertion, as his debut, The Book of Jonas, features a 15-year-old in an unnamed Muslim country orphaned when American troops decimate his village.

Stephen Dau has worked in postwar reconstruction and international development, including time spent in Sarajevo, so he understands the consequences of war for everyone involved. He was inspired to write this book when, back in 2003, he heard President George W. Bush respond to a question about civilian deaths in Iraq by saying offhandedly, “around 30,000,” as if it were a bowling score. Dau felt compelled to tell their stories, which he does here by focusing on 15-year-old Younis, who escapes the slaughter in his village with the help of an American soldier named Christopher.

But, as h went on to explain, his real aim was to speak hopefully of individual responsibility, particularly in the face of daunting moral choice.
Read the review of his book on Library Journal.

Dame Edna Everage is to go on one final tour after the colourful character's creator Barry Humphries said he was retiring from the stage.

"Edna will crop up on television I guess but not in a live show," the 78-year-old comedian told Australia's Sunday Telegraph newspaper.

"The fact of the matter is that I'm beginning to feel a bit senior."

Humphries will take Dame Edna on a farewell tour of Australia and New Zealand between June and August.

"It's the best aerobics you could do, leaping around on stage, but it's gruelling when there are other things to do," he said.

"I've got a contract to write another book, there are places I want to go, things I want to do [including] more painting."

Humphries recalled being taken as a child to see performers who had "outlived their shelf life".

"It was commented that 'you should have seen him when he was funny'. I want to avoid that being said about me and know that I can't keep doing it," he said.

Humphries created Dame Edna in 1955 and the ostentatious Melbourne housewife became famous for her gaudy purple hair, outrageous glasses and over-sized ego. You can read/see clips
from "her" career in The Guardian.

I have a personal funny story from the years when Dame Edna was all the rage in New Zealand. A good friend, who was a prominent cleric, had the job of presiding at the ANZAC dawn parade every year. This was a solemn occasion, held in a beautiful park, and attended by veterans, Boy Scouts, cadets, and so forth. Anyway, a few days before the parade, my friend approached me, looking distraught. "I had the most terrible nightmare last night," he confided.

"It was the start of the dawn parade. Everyone was lined up, and the atmosphere was reverent. I approached the podium in my robes," he went on, "and to my utter horror I spread my arms, and cried out, 'Hello possums!'"

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Or so it was announced, just recently. I can't say it affects me personally, as a person who could not afford either the money or the space to have a set of the grand volumes in my own house. And if I felt the need to look up anything in the EB, I just headed for a library.

But what happens to the libraries, who are stuck with an edition that is gradually going out of date? In the past, they budgeted a not insignificant amount to buy a new set, but what do they do now?

There is, of course, going to be a digital edition -- assuming that it won't eventually give way to that unreliable wonder of the WWW age, Wikipedia. So I guess this means that the libraries will have to budget a not insignificant amount to pay for a subscription, so that patrons can use library computers to look up what they need.

For those who missed it, here is the start of the story --

The paper edition of the encyclopedia ends its centuries-long run, but is it a victim or a beneficiary of the digital age?

Its legacy winds back through centuries and across continents, past the birth of America to the waning days of the Enlightenment. It is a record of humanity's achievements in war and peace, art and science, exploration and discovery. It has been taken to represent the sum of all human knowledge.

And now it's going out of print.

The Encyclopedia Britannica has announced that after 244 years, dozens of editions and more than 7,000,000 sets sold, no new editions will be put to paper.

The 32 volumes of the 2010 installment, it turns out, were the last. Future editions will live exclusively online.

Friday, March 16, 2012

I promise to leave Isaac Asimov alone after this post, but he is a writer who has always fascinated me. Ebulliant by nature, he was always willing to talk and write about the science and fun of the writing business. So, when I found the collection of his editorials for the magazine Nightfall, which are collected in the anthology called Gold, I read his musing with huge interest. It was fascinating how right -- and how wrong -- his predictions for the future of books and magazines were.

Anyway, here is the story of how he changed a whole evolving science without even realizing what he was doing:.

Back when Isaac Asimov was just 21, he wrote a science fiction story that appeared in the March 1942 edition of Astounding Science Fiction. It was called “Runaround.”

On page 100, one of his characters says, “Now, look, let’s start with the Three Fundamental Rules of Robotics.”

1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except when such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

As Asimov says himself, “These laws, as it turned out (and as I could not possibly have foreseen) proved to be the most famous, the most frequently quoted, and the most influential sentences I ever wrote.”

Not only did the Three Laws affect every robot story written after that – by other authors, as well as Asimov himself – but the concept has been adopted by robotics engineers. Widely recognized as an ideal for robot safety, they are now a part of robotic programming.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Recently, I read an article by the editor of a books reviews magazine. What startled me is that she was insistent that a good (as in thoughtfully critical) review should be 1200 words long.

While I have written both long and short reviews, I much prefer a book review of less than 600 words. A short review fits nicely into a blog post (preferably after publication in a regular magazine or newspaper). It also caters nicely to the fragile attention span of most magazine and newspaper readers.

Having to confine oneself to three or four paragraphs disciplines the mind most wonderfully. Instead of rambling, the review has to be snappy and concise. This has all kinds of advantages. The reader (not to mention the author of the book being reviewed) comes away with a very clear idea of what the reviewer liked, or did not.

Most importantly of all, it demands that the review must be well written – there’s no room to get away with meandering sentences and qualified thoughts.

With these thoughts in mind, it was interesting to read Isaac Asimov’s views of reviewers. (Number six is so revealing of the author – who started the essay by saying he hated book reviews – that I have taken the liberty of quoting it in full.)

1. “A reviewer must read a book carefully ... even if it seems to be very bad ...”

4. “A reviewer must not only be a person of literary judgement, but he must have a wide knowledge of the field ...”

5. “A reviewer must be a competent writer himself ...”

6. “Finally – and this is the point where even the cleverst reviewer (perhaps especially the cleverest reviewer) can come a cropper – the review must not be a showcase for the reviewer himself. The purpose of the review is not to demonstrate the superior erudition of the reviewer or to make it seem that the reviewer, if he but took the trouble, could write the book better than the author did. (Why the devil doesn’t he do it, then?) Nor must it seem to be a hatchet job in which the reviewer is carrying out some private vengeance. (This may not be so, you understand, but it mustn’t even seem to be so.)”

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

“There is a romantic notion that there is such a thing as inspiration – that a heavenly muse comes down and plunks her harp over your head, and presto, the job is done. Like all romantic notions, however, it is just a romantic notion.”

“If your grammar and spelling are rotten, you won’t be writing a great and gorgeous story. Someone who can’t use a saw and hammer doesn’t turn out stately furniture.”

“Writing is the most wonderful and satisfying task in the world, but it does have a few insignificant flaws. Among those flaws is the fact that a writer can almost never make a living at it.”

Saturday, March 10, 2012

In a move reminiscent of US President Obama’s presentation of his Hawaiian birth certificate to the media – in a successful effort to prove that he was born a US citizen – Haiti President Michel Martelly has planted his Haitian passport in front of the TV cameras.

Haiti’s constitution does not allow dual nationality, and claims persistently made by his opponents that he has foreign passports forced him to bring this vital document into the open.

Perhaps, like Obama, he hopes now to be allowed to get on with his real job.

Friday, March 9, 2012

A century after the Titanic disaster, scientists have found an unexpected culprit for the sinking: the moon.

Anyone who knows history or has seen the blockbuster movies knows that the cause of the transatlantic liner's accident 100 years ago next month was that it hit an iceberg.

"But the lunar connection may explain how an unusually large number of icebergs got into the path of the Titanic," said Donald Olson, a Texas State University physicist whose team of forensic astronomers examined the moon's role.

Ever since the Titanic sank in the early hours of April 15, 1912, killing 1517 people, researchers have puzzled over Captain Edward Smith's seeming disregard of warnings that icebergs were in the area where the ship was sailing.

Smith was the most experienced captain in the White Star Line and had sailed the North Atlantic sea lanes on numerous occasions. He had been assigned to the maiden voyage of the Titanic because he was a knowledgeable and careful seaman.

Greenland icebergs of the type that the Titanic struck generally become stuck in the shallow waters off Labrador and Newfoundland and cannot resume moving southward until they have melted enough to re-float or a high tide frees them, Olson said.

So how was it that such a large number of icebergs had floated so far south that they were in the shipping lanes well south of Newfoundland that night?

The team investigated speculation by the late oceanographer Fergus Wood that an unusually close approach by the moon in January 1912 may have produced such high tides that far more icebergs than usual managed to separate from Greenland, and floated, still fully grown, into shipping lanes that had been moved south that spring because of reports of icebergs.

Olson said a "once-in-many-lifetimes" event occurred on January 4, 1912, when the moon and sun lined up in such a way that their gravitational pulls enhanced each other. At the same time, the moon's closest approach to earth that January was the closest in 1400 years, and the point of closest approach occurred within six minutes of the full moon. On top of that, the Earth's closest approach to the sun in a year had happened just the previous day.

His research determined that to reach the shipping lanes by mid-April, the iceberg that the Titanic struck must have broken off from Greenland in January 1912. The high tide caused by the bizarre combination of astronomical events would have been enough to dislodge icebergs and give them enough buoyancy to reach the shipping lanes by April, he said.

The research will appear in the April issue of "Sky & Telescope" magazine.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Books have saved Joanna Trollope, it seems. Back in 1991, she’d had so little money that she hadn’t been able to afford to turn on the heating in her rural English home for the past three years. Then The Rector’s Wife, was published, and lo, it was a life-saving bestseller, even pushing the current Big Name, Jeffrey Archer, off the top of the bestseller list.

A descendant of Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope, Joanna was the archetypal gawky eldest girl, a wallflower at dances, and never part of the group. Books saved her from that, too. As she says in an interview by Samantha Selinger-Morris, for the Sydney Morning Herald, she became one of life’s observers.

This isolation led to an enormous output of books – thirty-one, to date. “Churning them out,” the literati would say – the same literati who deride her as the “Aga saga queen,” the oldfashioned coal or wood fired iron Aga stove featuring in so many of her yarns. No harm has been done, however. Trollope has sold five million books, got the gong for Order of British Empire, and been nominated by Harpers as one of the six chosen to write Austen-style novels.

Joanna Trollope’s take on Sense and Sensibility will be out next year. Whether it will feature an Aga stove remains to be seen.

Monday, March 5, 2012

The latest to voice his “blues” about the future of publishing is Henry Rosenbloom, founder of Scribe, and blogger on www.scribepublications.com.au

Turnover, he says, has dropped dramatically. “The value of bookshop sales, as measured by BookScan, dropped by 17.5% in December last year, compared with the same period in 2010. This already alarming trend was being maintained earlier this year but it has just started to accelerate: in the second week of February 2012, the value of booktrade sales was 22% lower than for the same week a year before; in the third week the value of was down 29%. The first three weeks combined were down by 21.5%.”

Is the shortfall taken up by eBooks? According to him, it is not. “E-books sales have risen significantly throughout this recent period but they’re not even close in value to the loss of turnover from what will soon be called p-book sales.”

Friday, March 2, 2012

The article then begins by stating, "Several publishers say reader interest is increasing only for works dealing with the ever-present subject of alien visitations and abductions, UFOs and related phenomena."

Time to start scanning the night sky, perhaps.

And no wonder chic lit is going out of fashion.
(Or maybe it just needs to adapt.)

Thursday, March 1, 2012

According to the Authors Guild Bulletin, there used to be a year between the launch of the hardback and the release of the paperback -- and that's the way I remember it, too.

Now, publishers, recognizing that the only attention a book is likely to receive is around the time of the appearance of the hardback, are either following more swiftly with the paperback edition, or forgetting about paperbacks altogether.

Some publishers still rely on paperbacks to keep a book in print, and compensate by bringing out the paperback quickly, while the reviewers are still paying attention.

Increasingly, however, publishers, having recognized that Kindle books are outselling paperbacks on Amazon, are happy to let a book exist only as an eBook, once the hardback is out of stock.